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    This Trans Teen Was The First Kid From Townsville To Start Testosterone

    The judge in the 17-year-old’s court case slammed the Australian practice of sending trans teens to court to access hormones.

    Emotions ran freely last December when the Family Court ruled that a 17-year-old transgender boy could start taking cross-sex hormones.

    In his decision, Justice Peter Tree described the moment he said he would allow "Lucas" – who was present in court, along with family and friends – to start taking testosterone.

    “Lucas’ face relaxed into relief, and his mother, who was sitting at the bar table next to him, flashed him a quick, but revealing, smile," he wrote. "Lucas’ father commenced to openly weep... and remained doing so for the balance of the hearing. A tremendous burden was lifting."

    Luka Griffin

    The teen with his parents, following the court decision.

    "Lucas" is Luka Griffin, a 17-year-old from Townsville in North Queensland, Australia.

    Speaking to BuzzFeed News via Skype, Luka struggled to find the right words to describe how it felt to sit through the hearing.

    At first he said it was "a weight off my chest", but then reconsidered.

    "Actually, to say that, it feels like a cop-out, because it was so much more than that," he said. "It was… wow. It’s finally come to an end. It was a bit anti-climactic because in a courtroom you can’t jump up and yell, you have to sit quietly. And that’s why my father started weeping, because it was so intense."

    Luka pointed out that "fortunately" he didn't cry in front of the lawyers, or family and friends.

    Did he feel like crying?

    “Yeah, oh, hell yeah!”

    Luka's case is one of many that have gone through the Family Court since a 2004 ruling meant all transgender teenagers in Australia must be granted permission by the court before starting cross-sex hormone (oestrogen or testosterone) treatment.

    Luka is the first transgender minor to go through the process in North Queensland. The case is also notable for the forcefulness with which Tree decried the court process; one that has long attracted criticism from transgender people, their families, justices, legal experts and medical professionals.

    In his decision Tree wrote: “As if the general turmoil and challenges which being a teenager in our modern world generates are not enough, the additional burden of requiring an already vulnerable and highly marginalised group to individually litigate to vindicate their identity seems inhumane."

    “No other group of adolescents is required to do so. Having already traversed a far more difficult path than many of their peers, it can only serve to further increase their burden.”

    Luka came out in 2014. His parents, who are separated, were incredibly supportive.

    "2015 was pretty much just trying to figure out how someone in North Queensland would access the Family Court process," Luka said. "It’s really inaccessible to anyone outside of a major city. Even in Brisbane, there’s a massive waiting list."

    In January last year the family applied for pro bono legal assistance, which Luka described as "the only option" if he wanted to start testosterone before turning 18. In May he had his first conference with Brisbane law firm HopgoodGanim.

    "The conversation was pretty much me, my father, my mother and my stepmother crowded around my living room table, with the phone on speaker," he said.

    Months of sorting out affidavits – six in total, from his mum, his dad, and four doctors – ensued.

    He met his barrister in September and in October the case was filed with the Family Court. The hearing was in November and the decision was handed down three days before Christmas.

    Luka said the Family Court experience was expensive, and too time-consuming and stressful.

    "Having to go to school, learning how to drive, those normal worries and teenager things, to be trans and navigate that socially – adding a court case onto that, it was a very stressful year," he said.

    Luka, who has been home-schooled for the past couple of years, said that despite tremendous support from friends and family, he felt isolated being transgender in Townsville.

    Now that the court process is over, Luka plans to return to a mainstream school for his final year. He said he will start worrying about what normal ("normal with quotation marks!") teenagers do: graduating from Year 12 with good marks.

    Luka dreams of studying at either the University of Queensland or Griffith University and becoming a human rights lawyer.

    Politicians in the Parliamentary Friends of LGBTI Australians group have been aware of the Family Court issue for years.

    Greens senator Janet Rice told BuzzFeed News there were concerns about not wanting the reform to get lost in the ugly politics surrounding the marriage equality debate. It will be discussed at a meeting of the group in March.

    A spokesperson for the Attorney-General’s Department told BuzzFeed News the government was aware of the issue and is actively considering options.

    “The government is sensitive to the concerns of transgender children and their families... the need to apply to the Family Court for orders relating to stage two treatment can be expensive, stressful and delay a child’s access to treatment,” the spokesperson said.

    Labor shadow assistant minister for equality Terri Butler called on the government to make clear its intentions.

    "I’m very concerned about these processes that are expensive and take a long time," she told BuzzFeed News. “People I’ve spoken to in the trans community often nominate this as a key issue."

    Meanwhile, Luka has become something of an advocate. Last June, aged 16, he spoke to some 100 doctors about what it was like to be transgender and go through the court process. His enduring message for medical professionals is to listen to transgender youth.

    "When you’re going through the Family Court and getting a case together and trying to see all these doctors, your life [is] being dissected... all they needed to do was listen to me and what I was saying," he said.

    "For Judge Tree to be like, ‘You know who you are, I trust what you’re saying', it was very liberating."


    Lane Sainty is the editor of BuzzFeed News in Australia and is based in Sydney.

    Contact Lane Sainty at lane.sainty@buzzfeed.com.

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